Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-28
THE BUSINESS WORLD.
some Suggestive Facts and Figures Worthy
of study.


of study.
Sysriai Correspondence ofibS Register.
NEW YORK, May 25.-Fi9ancial and
political authorities agree that the de
preston which begun in lS5l, following
the short lived "bOOm" of lS19-S0, and
endured so long, is past. and that some
thing like ''boOm" is at hand. But
shrewd observers cannot fail To see that
this erl of activity will he totally unlike
the last, and still more unlike that season
Of feyerish speculation which preceded the
great panic of 1873. In fact, the condi-
tons are so different from those prevail
ing i'm - and in 80 that no precedent can
be drawn. There is now no large volume
of irredeemable but legal tender paper,
no failure OF the grain crops in the old
world, no great speculative enterprises atOOt
and no very unusual changes of pOpuIa-
ton. The average rate of interest Is prob
ably the lowest ever known, alike in the
old world and the new; the cost of the nee
eslries OF life is as low ~ this generation
has ever known, il not lower, and the mar
gin of profits in almost every line Of leglt-
innate business is as low rs ut any time IN
this century. We are justified, therefore,
in believing that the Use of prices will
come on slowly and last for some time;
that the severe experiences OF the recent
past will have their restraining effect, and
consequently that the activity will he con
fined chiefly to legitimate business for
some years till prosperity produces its
usual effect in exciting speculation and the
creation of fictitious values. After that
the crash.
The present situation is peculiar in
many respects. Perhaps the most phenom-
email fact is the low rate of interest, that Is
Ia saw, the abundance of lOlnable capital,
despite the rapid increase i'll population
and the volume of business. The cause is
easily seen modern business methods dis
pense with the use of money; produce
paws tor goods, and goods for produce. In
the crushing panic Of lS31, and the long
era of depression which lasted through
Van Buren'S and Tylcr's administrations,
the western farmers grain and meat were
months in reaching the consumer and the
manufactured articles aS long in reaching
the west; at each transfer OtyalueS money
was paid. Vow the western factor loads Il
railroad train with gain ard tiles the
certificates Of that shipment IN his local
bank; telegram informs the New York
correspondent that the grain is on the way,
the credit is made aud the goods may he,
often are, shipped westward thereon he
fore the grain gets half way to the Sea-
In L., lr. fal /,
payment for the transfer of $4,000 worth
OF wheat and return of an equivalent in
goods Thus rapidly increasing volume
of business is transacted on decreasing
transfers of cash; banking and telegraphy
dispense with the use of money, and there
is an over abundance of cash for legitimate
business besides surplus for speculation
and new investments.
Another very noteworthy feature is that
waves have been 80 well maintained. In
the seven years that the cost Of living has
declined nearly One-third, wages have GER
tainly not declined Onc-tenth, II at all;
and rs the Hon. Edward Atkinson has 40
ably po;ntcd ont, the lahOrer has been Sc
curing n constantly increasing share OF the
constantly increasing product. The result
has been to excite immigration on u scale
never before witnessed. Not since Goth,
Hun and Naudal descended upon Rome
has such a transfer of population taken
place aS this very year sees. Ii is a scri-
Gus question if this European flood 3d.
OOO labOrers in lSS7 ut present rates
will not force great collapse IN the
American labor market. Another very
serious thing has happened; our foreign
customers, especially England, are looking
elsewhere for grain AID cotton. Our eN
port of the former has fallen of one-half,
and now the latter is threatened. We
were helped out of the panic of 1871 by
a combination of events which may never
again occur. There were seven good wheat
crops in this country and seven poor ones
in Western Europe. The result was that
in nine years we imported more wheat
than in the previous ninety. The further